Sports Production Through AI-Powered Sports Action Tracking and PTZ Cameras

Consumer expectation when it comes to the viewing experience is often based on watching tier 1 sports productions. In response, sports programmers are searching for solutions that deliver an engaging experience at a cost that is in line with the available budget. Artificial intelligence (AI)-driven sports production solutions have been available for some time. But to date, the ability to accurately track sporting action combined with visual clarity has been a challenge. This article describes how a panoramic camera system can be implemented to monitor the entire field of play, to feed an AI system that identifies the sporting action. Furthermore, how the AI engine can drive a high-quality pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera to follow the action to deliver the program feed is also described. The article also discusses how the AI engine can accurately point the PTZ camera - taking into account video and AI processing delays, how those processing latencies can be measured, to forward-predict directional vectors and correctly point the program feed camera irrespective of distance from the camera and the variation in angular velocity realized. © 2002 Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, Inc.